It's a good thing I don't believe in conspiracy theories, because if I did I'd be tempted to think the entire subprime mortgage crash and the following "Great Recession" were engineered from the beginning as a long troll on private home ownership in America. Of course, I am sophisticated and smart enough to know that nobody would do that -- not because they are above doing it, but because nobody can think that far ahead anymore.
Still, according to this link (http://www.valuewalk.com/2014/07/corporate-landlords/), the results are about the same as they'd be if it were some devious master plan.
There are three narratives to this story. One, the Conservative narrative, begins in the 1990s with President Clinton's push to drive up home ownership among Americans as a way to boost economies national and local, increase civic participation, and decrease crime, among other things (maybe some shadowy organization of goddamn HOAs bought Clinton, who knows). Of course, this was all a terrible and Socialist™ thing to do, because something something poor people with nice things something something, and the Conservatives were right because ten years later, a housing crash happened which proves poor people don't deserve nice things.
The "liberal" story starts around 2001 or so with the Banksters inventing a number of insidious financial instruments based on imaginary money that could only be realized through various legal and semi-legal forms of consumer financial fraud, the largest of these being the "Sub-Prime Mortgage," which if they were made out of anything physical would be confiscated at any airport for their tendency to blow up and break things. Eventually this game of American Roulette had to end in tears, and so it did in 2007 and 2008 with the collapse of the housing market. The Banksters knew it would happen, and they did it anyway, and that's why in 2009 the Democrats had them all arrested and put them in prison for a very long time. Or something.
But the third narrative, the one the lizard people and those aliens from Planet X don't want you to know about -- the real story here -- is far worse than either one of those two tales of political and financial incompetence and botched altruism. This one starts all the way back in January 1977, the last days of Gerald Ford's presidency. See, Gerald Ford was an asshole. We know he was an asshole because he was a Republican. And he was feeling especially dickish in January 1977 because he was about to be replaced by that wimp, Jimmy Carter. A president named Jimmy? What was the world coming to? Anyway, Soon-to-be-Ex-President Ford was intent on showing the ungrateful Americans who kicked his sorry ass out of the White House a thing or two. So he set in motion a series of bad decisions that eventually ruptured thirty years later like a disgusting time bomb made out of infected appendixes.
There are people who will tell you that the great engine of American prosperity and social stability has always been our "work ethic" or our "religion" or our "patriotism." These people are wrong. Actually, they're not only wrong, they are lying, on purpose, and are most likely being paid by the Koch Brothers or the estate of Ronnie James Dio to keep those awful lies in circulation. In actual point of fact, the thing that keeps America from becoming some terrible third-world nation is our fierce belief in private property. It is our fierce belief in "I got mine, you got yours, and never the twain shall meet" that keeps us milling about our daily lives contentedly, producing and consuming and voting and donating. It is the idea that all of us having some "skin in the game" keeps us happy and committed to society that was the basis for Clinton's push for expanded home ownership, and that idea was right. It just so happens that Clinton's not-terrible idea fit into Ford's plan like a cigar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewinsky_scandal).
Ford's plan was brilliant in its subterfuge. He met quietly with a number of his fellow anti-taxers and pro-poverty douchebags in the GOP and Big Business™, and they set to work sewing the seeds of the biggest land grab and legal shakedown in American history. Details of the plan at this stage are few, but we do know that by the mid 90's, someone had gotten Clinton to push for this "Partners in the American Dream" program that virtually eliminated traditional barriers to home ownership like, um, being able to afford a house (http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/hotproperty/archives/2008/02/clintons_drive.html). And in the decade or so the plan was in effect, banks fell all over themselves to mop up the veritable chemical spill of easy money being pumped out of government loan guarantees like sweet crude from the floor of the Gulf of Mexico.
That, of course, is where most coverage stops, more or less. Bad government encourages bad business, and all that. But the story is continuing today and nobody is really paying attention anymore. In the wake of the housing crash, newly vacated shards of the American Dream were, and continue to be, snatched up by multi-billion-dollar corporations. Now, this is probably just business on their part, but consider the implications for this new reality where Americans rarely live in anything even remotely resembling real private property. Compare the legal rights of a home owner to the legal rights of a renter. All the same liabilities and responsibilities exist, with none of the privileges.
America is now a nation of serfs and peasants, living in tenements and shacks put up by corporate lords and provided for civil use so long as we agree to 100 pages of demands in the form of a rental or lease agreement, including an agreement to forego things like your 4th Amendment rights while occupying your assigned domicile. Add to that the currently in-vogue practice of Civil Forfeiture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_forfeiture#The_trend_towards_civil_forfeiture) and what you have is a government which, at all levels, has built a hyperspace bypass right through the space formerly occupied by your rights as an individual.
And it's all thanks to Gerald Ford. This, ladies and gentlemen, is why Richard Nixon should still be the President, and this is why I am writing his name in for every available office this year and every election year, until the day I die.
Considering how the meltdown happened (I recommend reading Micheal Lewis for that), and the fact that properties are being snapped up now, I'd have to say that the latter wasn't planned, but is just another example of the rich getting paid on the front end and the back end AND the middle.
You don't need a conspiracy when the system is biased in your favor.
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on October 13, 2014, 06:52:33 PM
You don't need a conspiracy when the system is biased in your favor.
DING.
But I am totally on board with the Ronnie James Dio part. I never trusted that little fucker.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on October 13, 2014, 06:24:36 PM
Considering how the meltdown happened (I recommend reading Micheal Lewis for that), and the fact that properties are being snapped up now, I'd have to say that the latter wasn't planned, but is just another example of the rich getting paid on the front end and the back end AND the middle.
Sure, it
looks like a happy coincidence, but there's an awful lot of serendipity going on for an awfully small number of chronically lucky people.
Quote from: V3X on October 13, 2014, 07:11:52 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on October 13, 2014, 06:24:36 PM
Considering how the meltdown happened (I recommend reading Micheal Lewis for that), and the fact that properties are being snapped up now, I'd have to say that the latter wasn't planned, but is just another example of the rich getting paid on the front end and the back end AND the middle.
Sure, it looks like a happy coincidence, but there's an awful lot of serendipity going on for an awfully small number of chronically lucky people.
You
make buy your own luck.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on October 13, 2014, 07:15:48 PM
Quote from: V3X on October 13, 2014, 07:11:52 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on October 13, 2014, 06:24:36 PM
Considering how the meltdown happened (I recommend reading Micheal Lewis for that), and the fact that properties are being snapped up now, I'd have to say that the latter wasn't planned, but is just another example of the rich getting paid on the front end and the back end AND the middle.
Sure, it looks like a happy coincidence, but there's an awful lot of serendipity going on for an awfully small number of chronically lucky people.
You make buy your own luck.
Ain't that the truth. Did you know that casinos change the odds for the wealthier clients? Did you there's been more than a few that shaved the odds too close and the house didn't always win?
When you're in a financially superior position, you're able to pretty much exploit others who are inclined to influence. Few places turn down a new rich benefactor or investor. Take UKIP, that's a whole heap of bullshit essentially created by one rich-ish backer. These fucks are now in the running for TV spots and shit because a few quid has a very immediate impact here.
I suppose that leads to the real question - How
much is good luck nowadays?
Also Roger, Did you not have a thing about how systems of government decay and what they turn into? That seems pertinent here.
Quote from: V3X on October 13, 2014, 07:11:52 PM
Sure, it looks like a happy coincidence,
But it's not a coincidence, and it's not the machinations of a cabal. It's how the Machine™ behaves.
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on October 13, 2014, 08:06:48 PM
Quote from: V3X on October 13, 2014, 07:11:52 PM
Sure, it looks like a happy coincidence,
But it's not a coincidence, and it's not the machinations of a cabal. It's how the Machine™ behaves.
And when it's not behaving in such a manner, we declare it broken and everyone must suffer until it can be fixed.
Or something, right?
"austerity".
The rich aren't getting richer, so everyone else must suffer.
Quote from: Junkenstein on October 13, 2014, 08:04:54 PM
Also Roger, Did you not have a thing about how systems of government decay and what they turn into? That seems pertinent here.
It was actually David Drake, if I remember correctly.
Aristocracy <---> Oligarchy
Constitutional monarchy <---> Despotism
Republic <---> Democracy.
It was Aristotle, originally, in his Politics.
Although you may want to double check that, since social sciences majors are lazy and don't do any real work.
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on October 13, 2014, 08:06:48 PM
Quote from: V3X on October 13, 2014, 07:11:52 PM
Sure, it looks like a happy coincidence,
But it's not a coincidence, and it's not the machinations of a cabal. It's how the Machine™ behaves.
This is exactly it. The system was designed and refined for the benefit of the monkeys that already have enough bananas. Of course the majority of unintended consequences will work out in their favor. Out of sheer inertia, if nothing else.
Quote from: Cain on October 13, 2014, 08:17:06 PM
It was Aristotle, originally, in his Politics.
Sounds right. Drake has made a career out of ripping off the Greeks.
QuoteAlthough you may want to double check that, since social sciences majors are lazy and don't do any real work.
I don't believe that and I hope you don't believe I believe that. I will state that in the USA, social sciences tend to be geared as a "soft" subject...But that doesn't mean that there's no work involved or that our system reflects on yours.
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on October 13, 2014, 06:52:33 PM
You don't need a conspiracy when the system is biased in your favor.
Permission to Big Words this? It is distilled perfection.
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on October 13, 2014, 08:06:48 PM
Quote from: V3X on October 13, 2014, 07:11:52 PM
Sure, it looks like a happy coincidence,
But it's not a coincidence, and it's not the machinations of a cabal. It's how the Machine™ behaves.
And this, my friends, is at the heart of Systems Science.
Quote from: Your Mom on October 14, 2014, 12:47:04 AM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on October 13, 2014, 08:06:48 PM
Quote from: V3X on October 13, 2014, 07:11:52 PM
Sure, it looks like a happy coincidence,
But it's not a coincidence, and it's not the machinations of a cabal. It's how the Machine™ behaves.
And this, my friends, is at the heart of Systems Science.
Systems Science?
*runs off to google*
Quote from: Doktor Howl on October 14, 2014, 12:51:44 AM
Quote from: Your Mom on October 14, 2014, 12:47:04 AM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on October 13, 2014, 08:06:48 PM
Quote from: V3X on October 13, 2014, 07:11:52 PM
Sure, it looks like a happy coincidence,
But it's not a coincidence, and it's not the machinations of a cabal. It's how the Machine™ behaves.
And this, my friends, is at the heart of Systems Science.
Systems Science?
*runs off to google*
I had never heard of it before the end of last term, when I asked one of my professors if he taught any other classes and he was like "yeah, this one with a ridiculous name". Then I had to find out more about it, and it turns out there's a Systems Science graduate program here. I'm taking a class right now, it's really interesting.
Quote from: Your Mom on October 14, 2014, 12:56:18 AM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on October 14, 2014, 12:51:44 AM
Quote from: Your Mom on October 14, 2014, 12:47:04 AM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on October 13, 2014, 08:06:48 PM
Quote from: V3X on October 13, 2014, 07:11:52 PM
Sure, it looks like a happy coincidence,
But it's not a coincidence, and it's not the machinations of a cabal. It's how the Machine™ behaves.
And this, my friends, is at the heart of Systems Science.
Systems Science?
*runs off to google*
I had never heard of it before the end of last term, when I asked one of my professors if he taught any other classes and he was like "yeah, this one with a ridiculous name". Then I had to find out more about it, and it turns out there's a Systems Science graduate program here. I'm taking a class right now, it's really interesting.
It's what it sounds like, and it's something I for which I never had a word. Closest thing was heuristics.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on October 14, 2014, 01:05:17 AM
Quote from: Your Mom on October 14, 2014, 12:56:18 AM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on October 14, 2014, 12:51:44 AM
Quote from: Your Mom on October 14, 2014, 12:47:04 AM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on October 13, 2014, 08:06:48 PM
Quote from: V3X on October 13, 2014, 07:11:52 PM
Sure, it looks like a happy coincidence,
But it's not a coincidence, and it's not the machinations of a cabal. It's how the Machine™ behaves.
And this, my friends, is at the heart of Systems Science.
Systems Science?
*runs off to google*
I had never heard of it before the end of last term, when I asked one of my professors if he taught any other classes and he was like "yeah, this one with a ridiculous name". Then I had to find out more about it, and it turns out there's a Systems Science graduate program here. I'm taking a class right now, it's really interesting.
It's what it sounds like, and it's something I for which I never had a word. Closest thing was heuristics.
Yeah, and the weird thing is how much Systems Science has influenced the thinking in biology, and yet is almost never mentioned. The current ecological model IS a systems science model. It came from systems science criticism of the old model, which wasn't really about systems at all.
Quote from: Your Mom on October 14, 2014, 01:20:47 AM
It came from systems science criticism of the old model, which wasn't really about systems at all.
Was that about the time they changed from "food chain" to "web"?
Because I remember things starting to look a lot more realistic about then.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on October 14, 2014, 01:23:23 AM
Quote from: Your Mom on October 14, 2014, 01:20:47 AM
It came from systems science criticism of the old model, which wasn't really about systems at all.
Was that about the time they changed from "food chain" to "web"?
Because I remember things starting to look a lot more realistic about then.
I don't know for sure (and I think it's odd how little "history of the science" is in the textbooks) but my guess is that yes, that's exactly when that happened.
Quote from: Your Mom on October 14, 2014, 01:33:18 AM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on October 14, 2014, 01:23:23 AM
Quote from: Your Mom on October 14, 2014, 01:20:47 AM
It came from systems science criticism of the old model, which wasn't really about systems at all.
Was that about the time they changed from "food chain" to "web"?
Because I remember things starting to look a lot more realistic about then.
I don't know for sure (and I think it's odd how little "history of the science" is in the textbooks) but my guess is that yes, that's exactly when that happened.
There was a lot of resistance to that one little change in textbooks.
Mostly by people in the pay of Union Carbide, etc. People aren't bothered by knocking out one alleged "chain", but when poisoning a great lake to death might kill EVERYTHING, they get more upset.
This probably explain why systems science is so "backwater".
That actually does make it make MUCH more sense.
I was like THIS IS THE MISSING LINK (in the sciences) but nobody's ever heard of it and it's been around since the sixties.
Quote from: Your Mom on October 14, 2014, 02:11:13 AM
That actually does make it make MUCH more sense.
I was like THIS IS THE MISSING LINK (in the sciences) but nobody's ever heard of it and it's been around since the sixties.
It somehow seems offensive to the RUGGED INDIVIDUALIST conditioning every American gets. Interdependence is by definition a bad thing in daily life, and must therefore be some of that socialist book-learning that keeps telling the job providers to stop dumping pallidium into Lake Erie.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on October 14, 2014, 02:37:16 AM
Quote from: Your Mom on October 14, 2014, 02:11:13 AM
That actually does make it make MUCH more sense.
I was like THIS IS THE MISSING LINK (in the sciences) but nobody's ever heard of it and it's been around since the sixties.
It somehow seems offensive to the RUGGED INDIVIDUALIST conditioning every American gets. Interdependence is by definition a bad thing in daily life, and must therefore be some of that socialist book-learning that keeps telling the job providers to stop dumping pallidium into Lake Erie.
Yeah, I think that's pretty much the size of it.
Quote from: Q. G. Pennyworth on October 13, 2014, 11:11:57 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on October 13, 2014, 06:52:33 PM
You don't need a conspiracy when the system is biased in your favor.
Permission to Big Words this? It is distilled perfection.
Absolutely.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on October 14, 2014, 12:51:44 AM
Quote from: Your Mom on October 14, 2014, 12:47:04 AM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on October 13, 2014, 08:06:48 PM
Quote from: V3X on October 13, 2014, 07:11:52 PM
Sure, it looks like a happy coincidence,
But it's not a coincidence, and it's not the machinations of a cabal. It's how the Machine™ behaves.
And this, my friends, is at the heart of Systems Science.
Systems Science?
*runs off to google*
This totally would have been my major in college. And my future would have been WAAAAY different. Still, I can't complain. My life is good.
(http://i.imgur.com/ysqb2n6.jpg)
Nice. Liking the small "when", I think it'll be (relatively) easy to miss on A0 which changes the message entirely.
I have it in A0, but it's at 72 dpi instead of 300, so I'll probably have to redo it.
Looking good!
I like this. Will it print full-size?
Quote from: Your Mom on October 15, 2014, 04:34:09 PM
I like this. Will it print full-size?
Here's a link for a larger version: http://i.imgur.com/z7gRLwE.jpg
I'm not 100% confident that'll work, but if you're just putting it on like letter or legal size paper it should be fine.
Quote from: Your Mom on October 15, 2014, 04:34:09 PM
I like this. Will it print full-size?
I have found that the works of the tentacled accomplice are usually good up to A3, even the quickly made ones.
Is there anything else due to get embigged? I'm going to be printing a shitload of drawings with a tender so I've got the perfect excuse to have it running pretty constantly.
I have no idea.
Is there a time we could catch up on gchats or something and figure out what you have in good versions and what things you only have crappy ones for? I switched computers and I don't remember my dropbox anymore.
Quote from: Q. G. Pennyworth on October 15, 2014, 04:50:41 PM
Quote from: Your Mom on October 15, 2014, 04:34:09 PM
I like this. Will it print full-size?
Here's a link for a larger version: http://i.imgur.com/z7gRLwE.jpg
I'm not 100% confident that'll work, but if you're just putting it on like letter or legal size paper it should be fine.
Awesome! Thanks!
:mittens:
Quote from: Q. G. Pennyworth on October 15, 2014, 04:50:41 PM
Quote from: Your Mom on October 15, 2014, 04:34:09 PM
I like this. Will it print full-size?
Here's a link for a larger version: http://i.imgur.com/z7gRLwE.jpg
I'm not 100% confident that'll work, but if you're just putting it on like letter or legal size paper it should be fine.
As always, I am giddy when you have gifts like this for me! Thanks!
Quote from: Ragret on October 17, 2014, 04:59:38 PM
Quote from: Q. G. Pennyworth on October 15, 2014, 04:50:41 PM
Quote from: Your Mom on October 15, 2014, 04:34:09 PM
I like this. Will it print full-size?
Here's a link for a larger version: http://i.imgur.com/z7gRLwE.jpg
I'm not 100% confident that'll work, but if you're just putting it on like letter or legal size paper it should be fine.
As always, I am giddy when you have gifts like this for me! Thanks!
Now available in money color! http://i.imgur.com/r4lmh2U.jpg
Quote from: Q. G. Pennyworth on October 15, 2014, 07:19:43 PM
I have no idea.
Is there a time we could catch up on gchats or something and figure out what you have in good versions and what things you only have crappy ones for? I switched computers and I don't remember my dropbox anymore.
I'll be doing an intial print run sometime tomorrow, I will communicate the results to you in the usual manner. Not entirely sure what I've got copies of myself now it comes to it. I'm almost certainly missing some. We shall refer to these as the lost works and they are now, by default, priceless.